Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-11-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our regular Correspondent.

| - INV iio"eC, INC department
officials feel safe in "doing like
wise'', and the consequence is that
a good round sum goes to that
state for partisan purposes. If
there are any merits in the Civil
Service Law, it will be hard to dis
cover them after a little more
strangling.
The President says in his Thanks
giving Proclamation, that "Every
path of honest toll has led to com
fort and contentment," but hundreds
of Union soldiers and widows who
have been discharged from the
Government Printing Office for no
reason but to give place to confed-
crates and partisans, discover little
beauty in such heartless sentiment.
The Republican party has always
favored cheap postal system. To
Republicans alone we are indebted
for the present rates. Repre- senta-
tive Cannon, of Illinois, is entitled
to more credit than any other man,
for this great blessing. He now
proposes to reduce letter postage to
one cent, and will press this winter
his measure with the hope of success.
If Congress had more such practical
men, there would be far less ground
for complaint.
| had talk recently with Senator
Cullom, Of Illinois, who is really
the father of the Inter State Com
merce Bill. He says the Commission
is giving 2 rather rigid construction
TO the law, but on the whole he be-
lieyes it is working well, and with
some notifications which he will
propose in the early part of the
session, with confident expectation
of approval, he thinks the law will
become popular and will be thor
oughly endorsed by the people. BY
the way some Of lhe Senator's
friends say there is a Presidential
bee buzzlng around his ear. The
Republican party is blessed with an
abundance of good Presidential ma
terIal, and Gov. Cullom is among
the number who sit in the front row.
There Will be complete re.organ-
ization of Senate Committees this
winter, and possibly change in the
subordinate official list Secretary
McCook does not give the best salts
faction, and Sergeant at arms Ken
uedy has an admirable faculty Of
alternating friends There will be
some loud talk about these two
gentlemen at the first caucus meet
ing of the Republican Senators
From the mass of information
gathered from the records in the
Bureau Of Statistics, l summarize
for this letter the following inter
esting items, which possess special
value at this time, as each of the
SUBJ ects touched upon are questions
Of great public discussion, and will
be prominent at this winters session:
The United States has lol ,684
men, and 6,605 vessels engaged in
the fishing industry. The annual
fish catch of the world, SO far as
calculated by civilized governments,
amounts to 100000 tons. This by
careful calculation, | compute TO be
equal to 10000 car loads, which
woud make a train 9lO miles long.
The annual consumption of beer
IN this country amounts To 9,765 )
I 347 gallons, at cost TO the con
sumer of S3O4,S52,438. That of
distilled spirits to 74673,429 gal
/ Ions, at a cost of 1887, 100000. The
use of distilled splnts is gradually
decreasing while that of beer is
increasing.
Nearly ali the sugar produced in
/ the United States is made in Louis
lana, and amounts this year to 1885,
600 hogheads, or about one-twe.fth
Of what we consume. Seven other
states produce sugar, but in small
quantities, and chiefly for local
consumption. We are the largest
consumers of sugar per capita IN
the world, aud it takes l,3s9,l25
tons this year to supply us.
4 ..t 4 az.